Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb set to face former team in Philadelphia Eagles

by Kent Somers - Sept. 19, 2012 05:39 PMazcentral sports

When it comes to serving an NFL apprenticeship, Philadelphia can be the worst, and best, of places. Four years there taught quarterback Kevin Kolb to accept pats on the back and kicks in the backside with the same facial expression.

Those four years served him well over his 14 months in Arizona, where very little has gone right for him.

He missed seven games last season because of injuries. The Cardinals had to bail out of the Peyton Manning pursuit last spring because they had a deadline for paying Kolb a $7 million roster bonus.

Then Kolb played poorly in the preseason and lost the starting job to John Skelton.

Kolb has handled the events of the past year as well as anyone could expect. He didn't lash out and he didn't sulk. He credits his even temperament to spending four years in a city where the words "even" and "tempered" rarely go together.

"The biggest thing I took is when it's high there, when things are going good, you can't buy into it because there is a lot of hype," he said. "Everybody is patting you on the back. And when it's low, good gosh, is the sun going to come up tomorrow?

"Although it's not quite like that here. It is the NFL and that's the way it is nowadays. As a quarterback especially, you have to be able to ride those waves and stay level-headed with every experience."

Kolb is not riding atop the wave now, but at least he's not crashing, either. He led the Cardinals to the go-ahead touchdown when Skelton went down in the season opener. And he played efficiently last week in an upset over the Patriots.

With Skelton still hobbling, Kolb is expected to start Sunday against his old team.

"I think Kevin is a heck of a quarterback," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "I had him here and I know what he's capable of doing. You've seen here the last couple of games, how he's played and managed the game."

The Eagles were willing to trade Kolb because they had Michael Vick, who took over as starter after Kolb suffered a concussion in the opening game of the 2010 season.

He and Vick maintain a strong friendship.

"We just text one another about what's going on in our daily lives," Vick said. "We kind of kept football aside from everything that we had going on because at the end of the day, football is not everything. Kevin and I, we both appreciate our positions but we appreciate each other more."

Kolb still has a long way to go to prove the Cardinals made a wise decision in trading for him. They gave up cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a second-round pick for Kolb and will have paid him $21 million by the end of the season.

Coaches wanted him to win the starting job this off-season, but in their view, Skelton outplayed Kolb

Kolb was disappointed in the decision, but he didn't mope, quarterbacks coach John McNulty said.

"During the week, I noticed he did a lot with the younger receivers, the linemen, talking to the backs," McNulty said. "He was working behind the scenes, so to speak, helping guys get ready for the game.

"Sometimes guys can be embarrassed, sulk or kind of hide. He really helped everybody during the week, and he obviously prepared himself well."

Coaches aren't asking Kolb or Skelton to be the next Kurt Warner, at least not now. What they want is for the quarterback to avoid negative plays and to make the obvious ones.

Kolb has done a good job of that the past two weeks, although he missed on two pass plays that could have resulted in big gains against the Patriots.

Still, there have been more bouquets than rocks tossed at Kolb this week. He learned in Philadelphia that it's important to know how to dodge both.

"I think, for the most part, people just try to criticize everybody in the world nowadays, so I don't even pay attention to (criticism) and move on with my life."